Can you monetize YouTube Shorts? Yes, once your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program and you accept its Shorts Monetization Module. As of October 2026, YouTube's Partner Program overview page asks for 1,000 subscribers plus 10 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, or 4,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months, before ad revenue is shared.
Shorts Feed ad money is pooled, not paid per video: YouTube adds up what the ads between Shorts earn each month, sets aside music costs, splits the rest by engaged views and pays creators 45% of their share. Below: each threshold, what does not count, the February 1, 2027 changes, other earnings and where WThumb fits.
Can you monetize YouTube Shorts?
Yes. As of October 2026, YouTube's Shorts monetization policies page says monetizing partners can earn from ads viewed between videos in the Shorts Feed. To share in it, a Partner Program channel accepts the Shorts Monetization Module, the terms for ads and YouTube Premium in the feed.
1,000
Subscribers for a share of Shorts Feed ads
10M
Qualified Shorts views in 90 days
45%
What creators keep of their Creator Pool share
500
Subscribers for fan funding and Shopping
The same month, YouTube's Choose how you want to monetize page puts that step in YouTube Studio: select Earn, click Get started for each optional module and accept its terms. Sharing begins on the date you accept, and the policies page says Shorts views from before that date are not eligible, so accept it the day you are in.
Below the 1,000 subscriber bar, ads may still run on your content with no share for you, says the Partner Program overview page, read the same month. To check a Short once you are in, open Content in YouTube Studio: the policies page says one whose views count for revenue sharing carries no "No ad earnings" notice, and YouTube Analytics shows estimated daily Shorts Feed ad revenue from the day you start monetizing with Shorts ads.
The YouTube Partner Program thresholds for Shorts
There are two doors, and only the higher one pays ad money. As of October 2026, YouTube's Partner Program overview page lets a channel in with 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Watch hours from Shorts views in the Shorts Feed do not count toward the 4,000, so a Shorts channel qualifies on views.
The lower door, on YouTube's expanded Partner Program page, read the same month, is 500 subscribers and 3 valid public uploads in 90 days, plus 3,000 qualified watch hours in 12 months or 3 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days. It opens fan funding and Shopping, not ads, in the countries and regions listed there.
| Fan funding and Shopping, 500 subscribers | 3M |
|---|---|
| Ad revenue today, 1,000 subscribers | 10M |
| Ad revenue for new creators from Feb 1, 2027 | 20M |
The overview page also asks for no active Community Guidelines strikes, 2-Step Verification and a linked AdSense for YouTube account, then reviews the channel, typically in about 1 month. After a first rejection you can appeal within 21 days or re-apply after 30 days, and YouTube's monetization rejection FAQs page, read the same month, asks you to check your videos, titles, descriptions, thumbnails and tags against the policies first.
How Shorts Feed ad revenue reaches you
A Shorts ad plays between two Shorts, not inside one. As of October 2026, YouTube's Shorts monetization policies page pools that money to reward every monetizing creator in the feed, not only those next to an ad.
Pool the feed's ads
Each month, revenue from ads between Shorts in the Shorts Feed is added together, to pay creators and cover music licensing.
Set aside music costs
A Short with no music sends all its revenue to the Creator Pool; with 1 track, half; with 2 tracks, one third.
Split by engaged views
The pool is shared by each creator's portion of engaged views on monetizing creators' Shorts, country by country.
Keep 45%
You keep 45% of your allocation, whether or not your Shorts used music.
Music only changes what goes into the pool. The page says using it won't affect your allocation or your 45%. Music here means content from YouTube's music industry partners.
YouTube's own example
The page labels it hypothetical. Country A has 100 million engaged Shorts views and $100,000 from ads between Shorts; music takes $10,000, leaving a $90,000 Creator Pool. A Short with 1 million engaged views is allocated 1%, or $900, and the 45% share pays $405. None of the YouTube pages we read gives a fixed rate per 1,000 views.
What does not count toward Shorts pay or the thresholds
Thresholds count qualified views; pay counts engaged views. As of October 2026, YouTube's Partner Program overview page counts a qualified Shorts view only on public Shorts that appear in the Shorts Feed, so private, unlisted and deleted Shorts, ad campaigns and image posts in the feed do not count.
For pay, the Shorts monetization policies page, read the same month, leaves out non-original Shorts, such as unedited clips from movies or TV shows, other creators' uploads or compilations with nothing original added; views from click or scroll bots; and Shorts outside the advertiser-friendly guidelines. Originality, mass production and AI are in YouTube's AI content policy.
The same page blocks Shorts over one minute with claimed content from monetization, and keeps some revenue out of the Creator Pool: ads shown on opening the Shorts Feed, such as the Shorts Masthead, ads on navigational pages in the Shorts player, and image posts.
Since August 24, 2026, a view counts from the first frame, but YouTube's How engagement metrics are counted page, read the same month, says earnings stay on engaged views and eligibility on qualified views. A Short in the feed becomes an engaged view once it keeps playing for some seconds, says YouTube's August 19, 2026 post. More in how YouTube counts views since August 2026.
What changes for Shorts on February 1, 2027
As of October 2026, YouTube's Changes to the YouTube Partner Program page lists what starts on February 1, 2027.
- Higher entry. New creators need 1,000 subscribers plus 8,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days or 20 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days. Partners already in keep their status.
- A monthly floor. Earning from the Creator Pool in a month takes 10 million qualified Shorts views over the 90 days ending on the 15th of the month before, as the Shorts monetization policies page put it that month. Missing it does not remove you from the program or touch long-form earnings.
- Targeted Shorts ads. An ad aimed at five or fewer channels pays eligible creators 45% of its net revenue, on top of the pool.
- The 500 tier stays. Fan funding, YouTube Creator Partnerships and Shopping keep 500 subscribers with 3,000 hours or 3 million Shorts views.
- A new activity rule. A partner stays active with 1,000 qualified watch hours in 365 days, 1 million qualified Shorts views in 90 days, or 2 long-form videos or 5 Shorts uploaded every 90 days.
Partners must also accept the updated terms in YouTube Studio by January 31, 2027, or the features those terms cover stop earning on February 1, 2027, though their place in the program stays.
Other ways a Short can earn
The ad pool is one stream. As of October 2026, YouTube's How to earn money on YouTube page lists the others: YouTube Premium revenue, channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers, which show in live chat, Super Thanks and Shopping.
| Feature | What it pays | Who can turn it on |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube Premium | 45% of net Premium revenue allocated to creators for Shorts | Partners who accept the Shorts Monetization Module |
| Super Thanks | A fan pays for an animation and a highlighted comment | 18 or older, Commerce Product Module accepted |
| Shopping | Your store's sales, or a commission on other brands' products you tag | Shopping affiliates: Partner Program channels in 14 countries |
| Targeted Shorts ads | 45% of net revenue from an ad aimed at 5 or fewer channels | Eligible partners, from February 1, 2027 |
YouTube's Shopping affiliate program page, read the same month, invites channels in the Partner Program that meet the Partner Program's subscriber threshold, are based in one of 14 countries including the United States, are not music channels and are not set as made for kids. Commissions arrive through AdSense for YouTube 60 to 120 days after a purchase.
The changes page, read the same month, also says new programs may offer bonuses for YouTube Shopping, production credits for brand deals and earnings boosts for cultural trend activations.
How to do this in WThumb
Custom Shorts thumbnails opened to Partner Program creators first. As of October 2026, YouTube's July 24, 2026 post Making thumbnails easier on YouTube says Partner Program creators can start uploading them, and the Add custom thumbnails page puts the upload in YouTube Studio on a computer, from a verified account.
In the feed a Short plays as it arrives, so the thumbnail works where a Short sits as a tile; places to check are your Shorts tab and search results. The engaged views post counts a tap on a thumbnail that starts the video as a view and an engaged view.
- Open the Studio. Recreate from a Link, Upload or Library reference, or use Prompt with a Video title and description.
- Pick 9:16. Turn on 9:16 beside Make, and 16:9 off unless you also want a long-form one. Each picture uses 1 credit (1 credit = 1 thumbnail).
- Write the words. Two or three words in Recreate, WORTH IT? rather than a sentence, or No text. Then pick your persona or Faceless.
- Press Make. You get a Full HD+ JPEG at 1152 x 2048; the size facts are in YouTube Shorts size. Check the letters: a generated image can misspell a word.
- Upload it yourself. Add it in YouTube Studio on a computer, as change a YouTube Shorts thumbnail shows; WThumb does not upload to YouTube.
Already have the 16:9 one?
Press Make the Shorts version under a finished 16:9 picture: one press, 1 credit, the same design laid out for 9:16 at 1152 x 2048. A picture gets at most one, and there is no 16:9 from a 9:16. New accounts get two free credits, no card.
WThumb makes the image only; it cannot check policy, measure clicks or tell you what a Short will earn.
